Chicago (CBS) — Residents of Hegewisch are saying that semis are taking over their neighborhood. Their houses shake day and night from the trucks, but more importantly they tell our CBS 2’s Marissa Parra it’s putting lives at risk.
Hegewisch neighbors are looking for a sign that traffic signs will finally be followed.
“It’s terrorizing our lives,” said Melissa Ramirez.
Day and night, semis driving where they shouldn’t.
“Here you see he’s coming down and completely rips some branches off. They weren’t just small branches they were the heavy branches that could have hit somebody,” Ramirez said.
Her doorbell camera shows trucks too tall for the trees, and too big for residential roads.
It’s illegal for trucks over 5 tons to drive in the neighborhood. But after seven years of living here, Ramirez says the issue shows no signs of slowing.
“It hasn’t slowed down, in fact it’s picked up because there’s no enforcement to stop it,” she said.
This is a ticketable offense, but that would require higher police presence as police staffing has already come into question.
A video shows a semi two months ago, just one street over, disobeyed signs and even taking some down.
“Drove right over the traffic circle and took out two poles and kept going,” Ramirez said.
In one day, cameras outside her home showed over 100 semis on 134th; some of them passing quicker than others.
“I’ve seen them going through the stop signs,” she said.
The mother of three says with trucks this big it’s more than a nuisance, it’s a big danger that needs curbing.
“There’s children everywhere running around, you have the bike route with the Divvy station. This is a school route, a lot of kids walk this way,” Ramirez said. “We’re scared that somebody is going to get killed.”
Half a mile away on Brainard, trucks are allowed to drive as that is a designated truck route.
In a testament to just how fired up these neighbors are here, several of them have trailed and followed these semi-trucks and they say it’s not just from one business or factor, they’re coming from all over industrial areas, to and from Indiana and Hegewisch.
CDOT responded about the issue and said that they will be bringing three speed bumps to the area between now and November depending on weather conditions.